The good news about taxes:
The sales tax on food (grocery) purchases was permanently reduced by one-half per cent (state tax portion reduced from 6 to 5.5 per cent). This reduction is very small, but it represents a major victory. Tennessee's budget relies heavily on sales tax revenues. The governor and many legislators were opposed to a sales tax reduction. During the past three years, I have introduced several bills to reduce food sales tax in different ways, but all bills failed. Because of the huge sales tax reserves this year, we were able to enact this small– but permanent– food sales tax reduction. Tennessee is only one of a few states which still imposes a food sales tax, and ours is the highest. We will try to build on this victory and work to eliminate this regressive tax, which hurts poorer families the most.

Another one-time sales tax holiday was authorized for a March, 2008 weekend. This tax holiday will permit families to purchase certain items for their children, free of sales tax.

The senior citizens' property tax relief was codified. This relief was authorized during the November, 2006 constitutional referendum. The legislation is permissive (each local government must approve the measure for its citizens), but homeowners, sixty-five years or older, may have the property assessment on their homes frozen. The formula for eligibility is based on the median income of senior citizens as the maximum level to qualify for the property tax assessment freeze.

We approved property tax relief for any veteran with a service-connected permanent and total disability.

The bad news about taxes:
We approved a cigarette tax increase of 42-cents per pack. This controversial tax proposal followed a tortuous course through the General Assembly. For weeks, many legislators stated they would not vote for the governor's proposal. The governor initially stated he would accept nothing less than forty cents. Shortly before the vote, he announced he would be satisfied with a 25-cents tax this year. In short order, the governor's acceptance of 25-cents was elevated to the original 40 cents plus an additional two cents for trauma center funding, and there was even interest in adding another three cents for funding of veterans' benefits. A 42-cent tax increase was sent to the governor for signature. I voted against the cigarette tax (but I voted for the trauma center funding amendment). The measure just barely reached a constitutional majority in the Senate (17 to 16 vote). I do not defend tobacco companies, and I urge any person to quit smoking, but this tax will hurt working families the most. Should smokers quit smoking and avoid this tax? Of course, but most will not. One good aspect of the tax may be that some young persons may delay smoking because of the added expense. The cigarette tax is estimated to raise 229-million dollars annually ("for education," but the tax is deposited in the general fund) and 9.9-million dollars earmarked for trauma care centers. The reason I voted against the tax is that I disagree with levying taxes at a time when we have such an abundance of tax revenues. Too much money on hand provides the impetus for investment in recurring obligations, which may be impossible to continue during a recession without levying even more taxes. A tax-and-spend course of action during a time of revenue abundance may initiate a cycle of even more taxation in lean times to continue obligations authorized during the good financial times.

Because of interest in future construction of toll bridges and toll roads, a toll road authority was established. I voted against this bill.

Some legislators have expressed interest in the prospect of increasing the fuel (gasoline) tax. With gasoline prices now at near-record levels and with nearly forty cents per gallon of the present cost representing fuel taxes, I am opposed to any attempt to further add to the transportation costs of working families by enacting a fuel tax increase.

My position on taxes... when enough is enough:
Not infrequently, I receive notes criticizing me because I do not enthusiastically support more taxes, including even a state income tax. Because of these criticisms, I wish to explain (defend) my conservatively fiscal view of taxation.

The average Tennessee family pays nearly one-half of its income in federal, state, and local taxes. Any tax hurts poor people the most. Because I was blessed with good income in my latter working years and I saved much of my earnings, modest tax increases will not harm me financially. Many Tennesseans are not as fortunate, though. Even tiny increases in taxation are significant for them. I am troubled that many elected officials– most of whom are affluent– so readily impose taxes on poor people.

I have great compassion for people who struggle daily just to meet simple expenses of life. As a newcomer to politics in 2004, few people offered me campaign contributions. Lacking sufficient funds for the advertisements I would like to have purchased, I campaigned the old-fashioned way, by knocking on doors and talking to voters. The summer of 2004 was a most educational– and a disturbing– period of my life. For hours each day, I talked to people– ranging from the very rich to the very poor. I asked area residents what they want from state government. I found that most persons want the same few things.

I was struck by one thing, however, and that is how much many people struggle financially. Stories from my Blount and Sevier neighbors still haunt me. In America, blessed by God as no nation has ever been, we have good, honest, hard-working men and women who struggle daily just to eke out a simple livelihood with little room for error, emergency, or luxury. These good people are deprived of many things that the rest of us take for granted. They economize to the extreme, and they spend days and nights worrying and crying about the future. These people include senior citizens on fixed incomes, "the working poor," and single moms (with low-paying jobs, small children, and deadbeat dads). Although I control my emotions well, these people bring tears to my eyes and break my heart.

When a tax proposal crosses my desk, I do not see a bill written on paper. I see faces. Of the many faces I recall, a few immediately come to mind. I see:

• The face of a disabled man, who lived three miles from my home but who was selling his home because he could no longer afford his property taxes.
• The face of a saintly elderly woman, who told me she cut her tablets in half so that her prescription drugs would last for two months, instead of one month.
• The faces of a senior citizen couple, who sadly told me they had worked all of their lives and lived honorably before God and their neighbors, but in retirement they could afford only simple groceries, property taxes, utilities, and prescription drugs, with nothing left to enjoy their "golden years."
• The face of a single mom, a restaurant kitchen worker, as she broke down and sobbed uncontrollably about her young children's desire to have designer shoes like their friends at school. All she could afford were unstylish, secondhand shoes given to her by her family or purchased in thrift stores.
• Since my election, I have seen the anxious faces of far too many people disenrolled from TennCare, as they feared they or loved ones would die from lack of healthcare services. They all pled, "Please help me," but I was powerless to offer them anything. We have not solved the greatest frontier facing medicine– how to provide affordable healthcare services for all of our citizens.

For these and other reasons, I feel we must try to hold down the cost of government and avoid the knee-jerk reaction to impose more taxes. Appropriate first steps for government are that we increase our tax base (attract better-paying jobs) and eliminate unnecessary, wasteful expenditures.

GOVERNMENTAL WASTE, FRAUD, MISMANAGEMENT, AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR:
I have introduced and supported several bills to fight waste, fraud, mismanagement, and unethical behavior in government. I am outraged when citizens' hard-earned income is extracted from them in taxes and, then, wasted. FIGHT BACK! If you know or suspect any misuse of tax monies, report it through one of the following toll-free telephone numbers. A state employee will discuss your concerns and investigate any apparent wrongdoing. You will remain anonymous. Call the following telephone numbers: